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Rick Pitino and Coach K call for Big East, ACC to combine: ‘I’ve been trying to get them to start a Super League’:

Note I am anything BUT a Pitino nut hugger but found this article interesting.

Last month, legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called for the Big East and ACC to effectively merge and create a new “mega” conference on his SiriusXM radio show. St. John’s coach Rick Pitino is also on board.

Pitino, speaking on Krzyzewski’s show, supported the idea of a Big East-ACC combination. In fact, he said it’s something he spoke about with his peers, although it’s not necessarily gaining traction.

Pitino’s argument stems from NCAA Tournament access, but also the opportunity to increase revenue. Both the Big East and ACC received four projected bids in ESPN’s latest Bracketology, and Pitino argued the investment of a merger could pay dividends down the road.

“I’ve been trying to get them, and obviously I jumped on your bandwagon with the suggestion that you had about combining with the ACC because I’ve been trying to get them to start a Super League, basketball league, and get up to 18 teams, 16 teams,” Pitino said. “Eleven is just not enough. And right now, a little bit like the ACC, we’re not typical of the Big East of the past that’s getting eight or nine, 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament. So I think we are missing the boat if we don’t expand.

“Now, the presidents, most of the presidents – probably including mine, who’s a very knowledgable basketball fan – they think about money. They think about the bottom line. It’s like a company like Uber starting out and they’re losing $500 million a year, but they understand 10 years down the road, they’re going to be making $1 billion. We just can’t see that. We can’t see that there’s a lot of money to be made down the road if we form a Super League. Because we all don’t have football, we’re basically all Catholic schools with the exception of UConn, the bottom line is there. They’re just thinking of today. I wish they would add Dayton, Memphis, combine with the ACC and just have a super basketball league.”

Since 2014, the Big East has had five or more bids to the NCAA Tournament six times. The fewest appearances came last year with three teams – eventual national champion UConn, Marquette and Creighton – in the Field of 68.

On the ACC side, five teams reached March Madness in each of the last three years. However, the number of bids has decreased every year since nine berths in both 2017 and 2018.

Rick Pitino: ‘Football is dominating everything’​

But Rick Pitino also noted the TV ratings gap between college football and basketball. During the 2024 college football season, an October game between Georgia and Texas was the most-watched regular season game with 13.2 million viewers. So far in the 2024-25 college hoops campaign, Illinois vs. Arkansas brought in 5.1 million on Thanksgiving after directly following an NFL game.

That disparity, Pitino said, needs to change. He further made the case for a Super League with marquee matchups to bring in viewers.

“What gets me upset, Mike, when you started and I started, I think college basketball and college football were on the same level,” Pitino said. “The old days of Duke-North Carolina and the ACC, nobody could surpass them, TV-ratings wise. Today, football is dominating everything. A bad football game on a Saturday outdraws an NBA playoff game.

“So we need to do something about that in the Big East, and we want to build – the coaches, I think, are in favor of a Super League. I just think the presidents are against it.”

ACC, Big East media rights deals run into next decade​

As for how feasible Rick Pitino’s would be in the near future, media rights would complicate things. Both the ACC and Big East have agreements in place that run through the next decade.

ESPN recently picked up its option on its media rights deal with the ACC, keeping the agreement in place through 2036. That decision came after Florida State and Clemson filed suit against the conference over an exit fee, and those lawsuits are ongoing despite ESPN’s move.

As for the Big East, the conference’s new media deal with FOX, NBC and TNT Sports will kick in next season. That deal will run through 2031 and received unanimous support from the 11 conference members.

The post Rick Pitino calls for Big East, ACC to combine: ‘I’ve been trying to get them to start a Super League’ appeared first on On3.

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Because of football. The Big East brings nothing to the table. I bet there's not a football coach in the ACC that would be in favor of this.

ESPN Louisville.com

CPK expressed his enthusiasm over being selected as UL’s MBB HC; given where we were following the “KP disaster”, I am not sure that I viewed the opportunity at UL a anywhere close to what Pat felt.

UL MBB and the city of Louisville are both viewed more favorably outside of our area, than some of us do who are living right here. If this city can figure out away to break from the gang violence and the subsequent murders, it could become a serious rival to both Nashville and Indianapolis.

I see some positive activities returning to downtown Louisville, but still a ways to go before it gets to where it needs to be.

Ho Hum

Pretty sure you are referring to some individual records, this is a team accomplishment. I also agree with the CJ sportswriter that basically said even though the competition may not be challenging, the players may have to challenge themselves to get better, so a big NO to ho hum...
Well, it's been both. Team records like 20+ point wins on the road, the 60, 50 and 90 percent shooting, 3 pt shooting and FT shooting, Total team assists in a game, etc...

Ho hum was indeed tongue and cheek as the Cards are not Uconn from the past two seasons. It's purpose was how unbelievable this run has been that it's looking like a ho hum thing the Cards dominating it's opponents.
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Ho Hum

It is true, NCST is struggling this season. However, they have been pretty competitive in those many losses, and they converted 11 of 33 of their 3 point shots against us on their own floor.

This UL team exceeded my expectations, and I think many of us would acknowledge that if someone told us that UL would be in 2nd place behind Duke at this time, we would not have believed it was possible.

I suspect that if anyone asks the rest of the ACC members who is the last team they want to play in a neutral site; the majority would say Louisville right now.
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James Scott

Implants, definitely the way to go. I’ve had 7 over the years and never had a problem. A plug for Dr. Livesay.
Same here. I have a mouth full of them, they're just like real teeth. No issues at all. You can eat rocks with them if you chose to 😄.. zthey are permanent teeth..Very costly but well worth it. As Rollem said a UofL dentist grad will step up for this without a doubt..

FSU game thread

We have seen some great moments in UL WBB, but yesterday’s upset at FSU, in its own way, was as much of a defining moment as I can recall in a long time. We are currently in 4th place in the ACC, but had we lost last night we would have slipped down to 6th place.

We still must play at both Duke and ND, and host UNC ….. all rated in top 15; so it is an extremely challenging task, but UNC, Duke and NCST have equally challenging schedules as well, and assuming that ND continues its domination in ACC, the battle for 2nd place is wide open.

Go Cards!

Ho Hum

We have set multiple Louisville hoops records this season so yes, ho hum.
Pretty sure you are referring to some individual records, this is a team accomplishment. I also agree with the CJ sportswriter that basically said even though the competition may not be challenging, the players may have to challenge themselves to get better, so a big NO to ho hum...
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